READING RUTH · 8 OF 9
Witnesses at the gate
The matter moves from a private conversation to a public gathering. Follow an offer, a changed answer, a confirming action and a blessing. Each has a different role.
In this lesson
Who is present?
Boaz has promised to act for Ruth if a nearer redeemer, a relative with a prior place in family redemption, declines. Ruth’s first husband has died, and her mother-in-law Naomi has returned to Bethlehem. The town’s gate now serves as a place for public business. Elders are recognized leaders of the community.
1. Boaz went up to the gate and sat there. Just then the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken passed by. He said, “Turn aside and sit here, So-and-so.” He turned aside and sat down.
2. Boaz took ten men from the town’s elders and said, “Sit here.” They sat down.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Peloni almoni, פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי, is the expression rendered “So-and-so.” The narrative does not give this man a personal name here. Boaz gathers the relative and elders before raising the matter; the witnesses will not simply hear about a private arrangement afterward.
1. What changes from the threshing floor to the gate?
Boaz now addresses the nearer redeemer before a gathered group of elders. Ruth’s earlier request and Boaz’s promise lead into a public process. The narrator has not yet recorded the relative’s decision, so his presence is not itself agreement.
An answer changes
3. He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the countryside of Moab, is selling the plot of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.
4. I thought I should let you know: acquire it in the presence of those seated here and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so; but if it will not be redeemed, tell me, so that I may know. There is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.”
בְּיוֹם קְנוֹתְךָ הַשָּׂדֶה מִיַּד נָעֳמִי
וּמֵאֵת רוּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּה אֵשֶׁת הַמֵּת קָנִיתָ
לְהָקִים שֵׁם הַמֵּת עַל נַחֲלָתוֹ5. Boaz said, “When you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire it from Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s wife, to maintain the dead man’s name upon his inheritance.”
6. The redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I damage my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva. Verse 4’s “if it will not be redeemed” renders a Hebrew shift to “if he will not redeem.” Verse 5 follows the read form “you acquire” and supplies “it”; see Rashi’s explanation below.
Inheritance here concerns the family estate and its continuity. Boaz’s first statement concerns the land. His next statement names Ruth and maintaining the deceased man’s name. The redeemer first agrees, then declines after that addition. Keep both answers and the words between them.
2. What new information stands between “I will redeem” and “I cannot redeem”?
Boaz adds acquisition from Ruth, identifies her as the deceased man’s wife, and states the purpose of maintaining his name upon his inheritance. The change occurs within a developing conversation. It is not a refusal made before the man hears anything about the matter.
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, explains “from Ruth” in verse 5: her agreement to the acquisition is tied to marrying her. This reading preserves Ruth as someone whose agreement matters. It also explains why the statement introduces more than an ordinary purchase of a field. Verse 10 will make the marriage explicit.
Rashi on Ruth 4:5. The Hebrew says “from Ruth”; the source card does not silently replace that with “buy Ruth.”
A worked method: track the turning point
Write the exchange in four steps: initial terms → first answer → added terms → revised answer.
- Boaz identifies the land, Naomi and the nearer relative’s priority (3–4).
- The relative says he will redeem (4).
- Boaz brings Ruth and the deceased man’s name into the stated terms (5).
- The relative declines, citing his own inheritance, and yields his redemption right to Boaz (6).
3. Why is “He cannot afford the field” not a complete evidence-based explanation?
The man says he fears damaging his inheritance, but the verse gives no purchase price or account balance. His first answer was yes. Our summary should preserve the added terms and his stated concern before supplying an explanation of that concern.
Rashi on verse 6 explains the concern as a mistaken fear about descendants from a Moabite woman. Our sages distinguish Moabite men from women in this matter: Mishnah Yevamot 8:3 permits a Moabite woman who has become Jewish through conversion to marry into the community. Rashi’s explanation affirms Ruth’s eligibility; it does not present the nearer redeemer’s fear as the Torah’s verdict.
The Mishnah is our early organized collection of rabbinic teachings. Yevamot is its tractate, or book-length division, addressing these family and marriage questions. Here it clarifies the interpretation; the narrative card itself quotes only the man’s brief concern.
4. In Rashi’s reading, is the nearer redeemer’s fear a correct ruling about Ruth?
No. He wrongly assumes that the restriction also bars a Moabite woman who has become Jewish through conversion. Distinguish the character’s concern, Rashi’s explanation of it and the rule our sages teach. Do not turn a character’s fear into the lesson’s own judgment.
Let the narrator explain the sandal
7. Formerly in Israel, concerning redemption and exchange, this was how a matter was confirmed: a man removed his sandal and gave it to his fellow. This was the attestation in Israel.
8. The redeemer said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Attestation means confirmation that can be witnessed. Verse 7 pauses the action to explain the practice. Rashi calls it a kinyan, an act establishing an acquisition. He also records our sages’ disagreement over who gives the sandal to whom. The rendering therefore keeps verse 8’s “he” rather than making one identification the only reading.
Compare a different sandal passage. Halitzah is the release procedure described after a husband’s brother declines yibbum, the Torah’s provision discussed in the previous lesson.
His brother’s widow shall approach him before the elders, remove his sandal from his foot and spit in his presence. She shall declare, “This is what shall be done to the man who will not build his brother’s house.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
5. Does the shared sandal make Ruth 4 the same procedure as Deuteronomy 25?
No. Deuteronomy describes a husband’s brother, the widow’s removal of his sandal, spitting and a declaration after his refusal. Ruth’s narrator describes confirmation of redemption and exchange; Ruth is not described removing the sandal. Shared objects invite comparison, but the actors, actions and stated purposes must also be compared.
6. What can you explain securely without settling which man removes the sandal?
The narrator says the practice confirms redemption and exchange, and the relative tells Boaz to acquire the matter for himself. Rashi identifies an acquisition act and preserves a disagreement about its direction. The act’s stated function remains clear even when we leave the disputed actor open.
Return tomorrow
Retell the negotiation in four steps. Then distinguish the sandal passages using actor, action and purpose, and separate the witnesses’ confirmation from their blessing.
9. Check your recall.
Boaz presents the land; the nearer redeemer agrees; Boaz adds Ruth and maintaining the deceased man’s name; the man declines and yields his right. The sandal confirms redemption and exchange in Ruth, rather than reproducing Deuteronomy’s widow-led halitzah procedure.
Boaz declares the property and marriage acquisition. The people confirm that they are witnesses and then bless the household. Birth and the book’s final family line still lie ahead.
Return to the sources
- Ruth 4:1–12: the complete gate scene.
- Rashi on Ruth 4:5–7, 10: Ruth’s agreement, the relative’s error, acquisition and memory.
- Mishnah Yevamot 8:3: the distinction concerning Moabite women.
- Deuteronomy 25:5–10: the distinct yibbum and halitzah setting.
- Genesis 29 and 38: the earlier families named in the blessing.